F.Y.I This entire review contains spoilers

This book was amazing. I've owned it for probably over a year and haven't had the urge to read it, so when I got the urge to this time, I'm so happy I listened and picked it up. It was so fast paced and so quick to read, it's very rare I can sit down with a book and not got to a point where I get fed up of reading for that sitting. As soon as I started this book, I was gripped, and if I wasn't an adult with an adult job and adult responsibilities, I would've glued myself to the couch until I finished this book.

I don't know if it's like faerie lore that they can't lie or just in this book, but I think it's a very interesting concept, and it's nice to have since it gives mortals some sort of power, meaning that there is something they have over faeries, and that they're not just completely useless, because if they where, the book would probably be a lot different, and they would be used as slaves even more than they already are, since they would hold nothing over faeries. It makes me wonder though, what is the extent of the lying they can do, can they only speak the solid truth, or can they only speak the truth they believe. So, say for instance, a faerie thinks they're in love with someone, but deep down they really don't, can they say they love that person, since it's a lie they believe, or would they not be able to speak it. I'm assuming they're only allowed to speak truths they believe, even if it is a lie, but it's an interesting thing to think about.

Jude Duarte
Jude and Cardan were the only characters I had heard about before reading this book, and other than knowing that they two get together, I've managed to avoid spoilers for this book, which I'm very proud of. I didn't even know Jude was a twin, which was surprising to find out. Jude is currently my favourite, although as the series goes on I do see someone else, like Cardan, becoming my favourite, since I only really know Jude right now, and we're still getting to know everyone else. Jude is amazing though, not taking anything away from her, she's a badass bitch and doesn't take shit from no one, which is the way every woman should be, unapologetic and taking command of their own space. I'm excited to read more about her and see her character develop, see her become more comfortable in herself and accept her "evil" side. I'm also excited to see her boss Cardan around.

Cardan Greenbriar
Even though Cardan was a dick in the beginning when he was bullying Jude and Taryn, since I know him and Jude are going to end up together in the end, I gave him some leeway. Even if I didn't know before going into the book though, I feel like it was pretty obvious that they'll end up together, just with the amount Cardan is shown and talked about. I'm excited to see more of Cardan and to learn more about him, and I do think he'll become my favourite character. I was surprised when I learned that he doesn't like killing, and isn't really into violence, since I guess I just assumed he'd be a morally grey character and goes on murder sprees, but it's an interesting concept to have Jude be the killer and not him, I'm excited to read more about it. It was also sad to learn about his trauma, with most of his family not caring about him, since he was at the bottom of the family tree and, would've never been thought to have held power, and even though he was taking in by his eldest brother, he was still ridiculed and abused by him. I never expected Jude to make him King, but I'm surprised he wasn't more angry and didn't blow up at Jude, since I fully expected a scene like that. I'm interested to see what kind of King he will be, since although I know he knows the social part of being apart of the royal family inside out, I doubt he'd have ever been taught about the duties of being King, so it might be a shit show, who knows.

Taryn Duarte
I don't really have much to say about her to be honest. As much as I want to dislike her for not being the "best" sister, I can't. She's just a girl in an world not built for her trying to make the most of it. While Jude wants to make change to make the world fit her, Taryn want to make her fit the world, and you can't blame her. She just wants to try and find love and live a normal life, and you can't really blame per. Plus, I'd be annoyed if my sister kept pissing off our bullies causing me to be targeted too.

Madoc
I'm at the point of my character list where I don't have much to say about each character. I don't know how I feel about Madoc, he obviously loves Jude, Taryn, Vivienne, and Oak, but at the end of the day he still isn't a good person, since he did sort of sword fight with Jude. I don't get why he wanted the crown, like I understand he wants war and blood, but I mean Balekin seems cruel enough, considering he killed almost all of his family, so surly he'd be alright with war and bloodshed, but who knows. I don't really get Madoc but I guess I'll understand him better the more I read.

Dain GreenBriar
I suspected that he wouldn't be as nice as he seemed, which I was, obviously, right about, since he killed his lover and almost killed his unborn child to protect his throne. I didn't expect Oak to be the sort-of rightful heir to the throne, or just for him to be connected to royalty in general (also the fact that Oriana cut Oak out of her friends dead body, like wtf???). I also didn't expect Dain to be killed, fucking plot twist.

Ever since I first read about this book, all I heard people saying was "DO NOT EXPECT ROMANCE THIS IS NOT A ROMANCE BOOK DO. NOT. EXPECT. ROMANCE!!!!!!" And yeah, it's not a romance book of course, but there was a lot more romance than I was expecting, since there was everything with Locke, and Jude and Cardan literally kissed??? When I heard no romance, I wasn't expecting anything until halfway through book 3. Not that I'm complaining though, I liked the romance we got.

I really struggled with the rating to give this book, I spent a long time debating between a 4.5 and a 5. Since I felt like it was better than some of my 4.5 and 5 star books, but there was also some 4.5 and 5 star books I felt like it was on par with, plus I didn't want to give it a 5 and have the next two books in the series be even better and not be able to show it through my rating. Ultimately though, other than reading about the mortal world, there is nothing I disliked about this book, and that's why I ultimately decided on a 5 stars. I'm  very excited to read the rest.